!anaj ,em s'taht

On top of the tower

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

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

The life guard fair

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!

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

Scottish trivia, pt. 2

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

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

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.<!–

Illustration of Language Items
2006
Several images, some of them sequential, created to illustrate the four language items of English:
_too heavy to carry
_they lived VS they have lived
_remember to meet VS remember meeting him
_I wish I had (done something in the past)
–>

Where we study and teach

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

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

From atop Arthur’s Seat

Salisbury Crag

Best place to commit suicide in Edinburgh since 1895.

Exclusive views of EDI

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.