In a Dear Green Place

Well, it’s a sunny and cool day here in Glasgow and I lived here long enough that I actually feel drunk from walking around in all this sunshine. I think the best part of almost-spring is the fact that the days getting noticeably longer. I often forget just how far north Scotland is until I’m here in Dec or June; then the days are freakishly short or long respectively. I’m feeling more upbeat and productive these days. It still starts to get dark around 5:30 or 6 but that’s leagues better than the weeks at the end of Dec or beginning of Jan where you wake up and go home in total darkness.

An upshot to January here in Glasgow is the wonderful Celtic Connections music festival. I really wish I’d had more money and time so I could check out more shows. (Although that’s not new. I always wish I had more money and time.) I didn’t get to see Idlewild’s show because it was sold out but I did see them at the Ballads of the Book gig. It’s a really interesting project where Scottish writers came up with lyrics which were then passed on to Scottish bands to turn into songs. It’s a really eclectic and fascinating album. The gig featured 7 or 8 bands that had contributed and they played the song from the album as well as some of their own stuff.

I didn’t get to see the Klezmatics or Kate Rusby because of schedule conflicts but I did have the pleasure of seeing Karine Polward. So awesome. She’s a wonderful writer and singer and her stuff is just hauntingly beautiful. One of the other really fun things about being in Glasgow during the festival was the fact that whenever I was in town there were always musicians getting into and out of taxis. I don’t know why I enjoyed that but I did.

Speaking of gigs, a friend and I went to see Regina Spektor play at the Queen Margaret Union last night. The place was pack and the show was great. Slightly annoying people next to us but that’s just the way it goes. I love the playful genius of her music and seeing her play live was a real treat. She’s just mesmerizing.

Now, I don’t just go to see concerts. I am actually here to go to school and things have been going really well in that department. I think I’ve adjusted more or less to the different approach to school here. At first it seemed way too laid-back and disorganized. I was so used to a more regimented and directed way of studying. Now I’m really relishing all the time I get to read on my own and investigate the things that interest me. I’ve got 5 essays to write this semester and I have a good idea about three of them. Today I presented some of my work on Reformation Hermeneutics, specifically Martin Luther’s approach to the narrative texts of the Hebrew Bible. The class went really well and I was feeling confident and comfortable that I could do a good job on these essays etc. I don’t know how long that nice feeling will last. A bit of healthy panic/fear is probably a good motivator so I actually get things done instead of just reading about them.

In addition to my regular class stuff I’m working as a Teaching Assistant for the department this semester. I’m leading one of the tutorial sections for the Christian Theology class. (A tutorial is roughly equivalent to a discussion section in the states, a more informal small group to compliment the lectures.) At first I was really nervous about this because I don’t really know that much about the history and development of Christian theology. I decided that the best way to feel better was to attend the lectures. Most TAs here don’t attend the lectures with the students which feels really weird to me. Grad students here run tutorials and help supervise exams but they don’t mark exams or have office hours like at home and they don’t attend lecture. I think that is really weird. I needed to feel more familiar with what they were covering in lecture so I decided to go and that made everything a lot easier. I spent most of my time writing questions down that I would like to go over with my group. They have lecture 3 times a week and I don’t go to all of them but I’m there once a week or so. So in tutorial we talk about questions in the reading or lecture, issues that come up, and also how they can approach their essays for the class. I’m having a great time and it’s another confirmation to me that this is what I really want to do with my life. I love this job!

So that’s life these days in Glasgow. It’s busy and varied and starting to be a little sunny. I won’t get too attached to the sun though. I know better. I’ll just enjoy it more when it comes out. Now I have some reading to do and then I’m off to a friend’s flat to celebrate Pancake Tuesday. What’s that, you may ask. To celebrate Shrove Tuesday (UK version of Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras) they make and eat pancakes. This seems like an excellent thing to do for any reason but I looked up the real reason behind it because I’m a curious geek. It turns out that the tradition started so that people could use up richer foods like eggs and sugar before the fast starting at Lent (tomorrow, Ash Wednesday) so that they wouldn’t be tempted or waste perishable products. Whatever the case may be I’m all set to have pancakes tonight. The ones they make here are often thin and light, close to French crepes, but I’m also bringing my precious box of Bisquick and some maple syrup to contribute to the party. Mmmm pancakes….

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 10:38 am and is filed under Glasgow, Travel. 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.