First week of school in the books

Well, I apologize, but this is the longest that I have gone so far without a new entry. I have been getting a crash course in Scottish education this week and have been to exhausted or too busy each night to add to my journal. The Scottish exam system is very different that in the states and it has taken a while for me to get my head around it so that I can best present the material to the students. I was able to see all six levels of student this week as I have classes from S2 to S5 (with some sixth year students) and I covered an S1 class. Both the S1 and S2 classes are younger students that I am used to teaching, but after a re-gaged how quick to go with them I figured it out pretty quick. All of the students have been great and my colleagues have been incredibly helpful. Monique also had a good first week. After a couple of days she decided to move from S2 to S3 which is more her age group so she was a new student twice during the week. However, she went to lunch with friends of Robyn every day who are still in the S2 group. The pictures for this entry are from are adventures last Sunday with Chris. He took us to a bay in the Firth of Forth for a hike in the dunes. He then took us close to the coast and the town of New Berwick which is famous for the puffin birds off the coast. He also drove us around the rest of the East Lothian area that we live in. It is very beautiful countryside and it was a great last day before school started. Next weekend I have an oppotunity to go away to a castle with some of the staff and most of the S6 students for an activity weekend so I should get some great pictures. I am looking forward to it. Would love to hear from all of you out there. Thanks to those of you that have said Hi.

Cheers

First Days of School

I started at Musselburgh Grammer School (MSG) on Thursday. The first two days were institute days so I had some time to get to know my new colleagues. There are two departments in my office, history and geography had one PT (principal teacher) and modern studies (gov't) and moral studies have another PT. Brian, who is my mentor is the PT for the second department. The history group has three teachers including myself. After fourteen years of teaching it is a little unsettling to feel like the new guy. All the forms, requirements, grading, schedules are all new, however that is what this experience is all about, shaking things up a little. I will see the students first thing on Monday bright and early, I am both a little nervous and excited. About half of our office (both departments) went to Edinburgh on Friday night after school. They are all VERY nice and it was fun to learn more about them and let them get to know us. We went to a great italian restaurant and then they walk us around the downtown part of the city. It is still crowded because of the festival. After getting up a little late on Saturday, we went back downtown ( we are getting really good at riding the buses, we like the double deckers) to the Edinburgh Book Festival which is part of the larger festival. Sean Connery presented his new book, but we missed him by two days. A lot of authors from around the world come and present their new books and they have an overwhelming book store with thousand of great books. I restrained myself for now and did not buy any, but I wanted to. We then walk all over the city looking at local places for good fish and chips, which we have not had yet and found a great little place. It was right on a street they have already named for me :) After watching some more of the fringe festival street shows we headed back to the bus and saw this guy. This might not be that weird except look at this picture I took in Seville back in June. HE IS FOLLOWING ME! Wishme luck on Monday. (PS I am inserting pictures into the blog now, because if you click on them you can see a larger version)

Cheers.

The military tattoo (100)

As I mentioned in my last blog we were very lucky to obtain three tickets to the military tattoo. We were going to use this opportunity to learn how to take the bus into Edinburgh, however, about two hours before we were going to leave my mentor, Brian, returned my call and offered to pick us up with his family to meet us and bring us home after the tattoo. After trying to refuse ten times, we said yes. Everyone here is SOOOOO nice. Brian and his family were wonderful and they dropped us off at the foot of the castle. Since Brian picked us up we had more time at the house and were able to see the horse races. Yes this picture of the races is from the window of our living room. We have a racetrack right across the street. Chris said sometimes they have people over and use the light post as a finish line for betting. Mr. Peronto would be right at home. :) After we were dropped off we went up to the tattoo. It was lightly raining and would rain for the entire evening. Brian's family, however, brought extra raincoats and blankets for us to use, so we were not as wet as a lot of people at the end of the night. The tattoo, however, was so unbelieveable you did not even notice the rain. All of my former students who were marching band members and especially those that went on to be in college marching bands this was the ultimate band concert of all time. Beside the unbelieveable marching, music and dancing the constant backdrop was the 1000 year old Edinburgh castle, which made for an almost fairy talesque feeling. I am going to include a number of photos, also at the bottom for those interested. I am also going to try and include some video so that you can get a feel for the entire evening. I would strongly suggest that anyone who can should try to come to this life experience. Before the evening began the annoucer went around and named over 35 countries that had people in the audience and the bands were from India, Singapore, New Zealand, Norway, Thailand and many other countries. There was even an American college Southwest Missouri State. My former students in marching band, you should tell your band directors to apply. Maybe they would accept a high school band Mr. Bailey. There were numerous high school groups from the United States in the audience, an idea for a future trip Mr. Drzonek. This show was also taped for the BBC and will be enjoyed by 100 million people around the world. If you have comcast cable, check it out. Enjoy the videos if they work and wish me luck on my first day of school tomorrow. My exchange partner, Jane, had her first day today and I cannot wait to hear about it. It was also her birthday today so wish her a belated birthday if you see her in the near future. Until next time.

Cheers

The city of Edinburgh

We sufficiently recovered enough from jet lag to take the train into Edinburgh. It is a 7 minute train ride on a very fast train, but the station is a 20 minute walk. I am really enjoying the walking so far, but it definitely forces you to think about time and where you are going. Edinburgh is very hard to explain. The entire city appears to be far older than any structure we have anywhere in the area. It makes the Chicago water tower look young. However, as a history buff I find it incredibly beautiful. During the month of August the entire world comes for the Edinburgh festival and the fringe festival. So as we walked down High street there were plenty of street performers. These guys were by far the best. They were unbelieveable gymnasts, but they were also very funny. They had an impromptu crowd of almost a thousand. We then made our way up to the famous Edinburgh Castle. They have a massive stand set up in front of the castle during August for the very famous Military Tattoo. The picture off to the side is a picture of the Castle with Beth and Monique. Unfortunately, the Tattoo has been sold out since February. Luckily we scored three returned tickets for tomorrow night so stay tuned for some incredible pictures. We won't even discuss the price of the tickets. The young women, who was a law student who sold them said, don't convert pounds to dollars, but it is so hard not to. After an awesome lunch in a cute little place called Maxie's we went over to Edinburgh University where I inquired about taking a course in Scottish history. I hope I am able to enroll. Classes start Sept. 22. This is Beth and me in front of the Main Courtyard of the University. After we were able to get the Tattoo tickets, we had perfect timing and jumped back on the train to Musselburgh. School starts on Thursday, so I am enjoying my few last days of summer as are all my teaching friends. The other new picture is Margot, a friend from the Germany group who has replied to my blog twice already, thanks Margot.

Cheers

WELCOME TO SCOTLAND

It was not easy, but we made it to Scotland. Thanks to some poor flight planning on my part we has a six hour layover in the Frankfurt airport. We left DC at 5:30 Friday evening and were early to Frankfurt. Our flight did not leave until 12:00 noon which is 6:00 in the morning DC time. As of this writing I have been up for over 36 hours. Jane's husband Chris picked us up at the airport with two cars. His sister yvonne picked up all of our luggage and Chris drove us back in a friend's car. Chris was unbelieveably nice as he had food waiting for us in the fridge since he knew that we would be tired. He gave us a once over on the house and will show us some of the more important parts tomorrow. We also had the pleasure of meeting Liam, Jane and Chris' son who will be starting university in Edinburgh this fall. The house is UNBELIEVEABLE. It is a charming two flat with beautiful rooms and furnishings. This is Beth and Monique in the kitchen. One of the Bonnar's friends already stopped by and welcomed us to the neighborhood. Even though we were tired we were a little hyped up, so we went for a long walk around town. We are looking forward to walking everywhere and seeing how we fare without a car which is so un-american. This is Beth and Monique in front of our place. We also walked by the school and got to go in, but I will save pictures for the first day of school. We are looking forward to a full day tomorrow, after A LOT of SLEEP.

Cheers

Last night banquet

It was an amazing last night at the Fulbright sendoff in Washington DC. We had a last night banquet and then all of the countries to which American teachers are traveling to and who are sending teachers to the states each got on stage and did a cultural representation of their countries. There were teachers from Peru, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, France, Senegal, Poland, Columbia, Mexico, India, Turkey and of course the United Kingdom. I am also pround that my daughter Monique and my exchange partner's daughter Robyn and their new cadre of friends from around the world got on stage and gave the crowd a huge awwwwww with their insightful ideas on what they will experience and how much they have all enjoyed becoming friends in such a short time. In three short days I have had invitations to visit France, Hungary, Bosnia, Turkey, Croatia, Belgium and all over the United Kingdom. I plan on taking as many of these wonderful people up on their offers as possible. I am adding a picture of Jane and her daughter Robyn so that all of my colleagues can see their new mate and my parents will know who to pick up at the airport. Her husband Christopher is not coming for a couple of weeks and will be picking us up at the Edinburgh airport. Also, I fully expect all of my former students from last year to go and introduce yourself and make Ms. Bonnar feel welcome. I am also adding a picture one of the Scotsmen, Robin, who wore his kilt to the banquet. As my partner said "you can't look bad in a kilt" so Mr. Peronto might get his wish of a picture of me in a kilt. I will probably be proving Jane wrong as I can make anything look bad.

Bad Poetry

Tomorrow will begin all Scotland all the time. However, I wrote a horrible poem for a bunch of great people my last night in Germany. Hopefully my poetic skills do not diminish how great the individuals were. It is repeated here as a testament to them. Maybe Scotland will improve my poetic skills, but I doubt it.

A is for Alexander, a sweet man from Munich,
B is for Berlin, too many statues with tunics.
C is for Chris, the group’s youngest and most mature member,
D is for Dennis, who wears a coat in September.
E is for Einstein, who looks just like Don,
F is for FUN, this group can get it on.
G is for Goethe, which is why we’re all here,
H is for Heidelberg, where we'll have our last ****.
I is for Illinois Cathy, everything is her first time,
J is for Jeff, I wish to hell he could rhyme.
K is for Krystal, a pistol from San Anton
L is for Lynn, she wouldn’t throw Jim Kelly a bone.
M is for Margot, whose trigger finger never stops,
N is for Nisha, in my book she’s tops.
O is for Omaha, sweet Melissa’s home town,
P is for Pam, who would never let you down.
Q is for Queen Kelsey, our awesome group leader,
R is for Rhonda, you’ll hear her laugh before your meet her.
S is for Sharon, very classy and tough,
T is for Twinkie, who in Munich had enough.
U is for Underhill, Goethe put the trip on his card,
V is for Vicki, who’s never seen people in Kansas party this hard.
W is for Wanda, whose peanut bag is deep,
X is for excitement, Veronica got so much she couldn’t sleep.
Y is for youthful, which is how y’all make me feel,
Z is the zip which Matthias gave his spiel.

I cannot believe the end is so near,
All of you have become very dear.
Please keep in touch and remember the fun,
Our group is not group six, but number one.
That is the end of my silly little ditty,
I will miss you tomorrow, it will make me feel …

PROST!

Here we go!!!!

Leaving your house for the airport and trying to comprehend that you will not be back for eleven months is something very strange. I am sure that it has not really occured to us that we are not going home. We have already met many lovely people here in D.C. All of the people connected with the exchange program are amazing. We have met people from Scotland, England, France, Africa, Eastern Europe and we have only been here for about six hours. Of course the highlight of the night was meeting my exchange partner, Jane, and her daughter Robyn. Robyn and Monique hit is off right away and went off and enjoyed themselves all evening meeting many other dependent children. They get to go to D.C. and see the Smithsonian tomorrow while I get to sit in meetings all DAY!! YEAH! I think I overwhelmed Jane with a million questions tonight at the banquet and her jet lag was starting to kick in. Then just for fun we have had two fire alarms in the last hour. I typed the first part of this entry from a curb at the front of the hotel. I did not get a picture of Jane and Robyn yet, but I will add one tomorrow. It is starting to feel very real. I hope all of you at Sandburg are ready to welcome Jane with open arms. In the small world department, I met a teacher from New Trier, whose exchange partner I met in Cleveland last May and he graduate from--you guessed it--Carl Sandburg High School. I think it is going to be that kind of year

Cheers

Having fun and counting down

It has been a couple of days and things are starting to look up. With the help of my brothers and their wives we managed to get a ton of things down around the house and it finally looks like we might be able to finish everything before we leave. We are basically packed and just have a lot of last minute calls and paperwork to pull together in order to get ready for our adventure. We have been talking about the fact that it does not seem real and probably will not until we get over to Musselburgh and actually start working. With my next blog I will begin to avail everyone on the history and fun facts of Scotland so I am getting excited about the true purpose of this blog. I know from phone calls that a lot of people have logged on, but no one is leaving comments. For those of you unfamiliar with blogging, all you have to do is click on the comments link at the bottom of each entry. We got to take a break last night and hit the beautiful city of Chicago one last time before we take off. We spent the evening with six dear friends whom we will miss alot in the next year. Hopefully some of them will be able to visit while we are there. The night was fabulous and this morning we went for a walk along the lake bringing back memories of our younger years when we lived downtown. Chicago is a great city, but I sure we will love Edinburgh too, as we have heard nothing but great things. It is hard to believe that we will not be seeing some people for the next year. Please continue to call and say farewell if you get the chance.

Cheers

Jeff