Today was the first official day of Fiddle Frenzy. It was worrying to see how many people were knackered by the time the evening concert came along. LOL, doesn't bide well for the rest of the week.
Once again I find myself stuck between two ability groups. They've renamed the slow group to 'improvers'. There's a HUGE gap between that and the intermediate. I tried both, and could almost keep up with the intermediate. I've been burned too many times though, so am being conservative and sticking with improvers. Another lady sitting across from me feels the same way. She was laughing at break time and telling me that she could see my eyes literally glaze over after the umpteenth repeat of the same phrase. I'd rather walk away with a few tunes though, than frustrated with a bunch of half learned tunes I never get around to learning properly. Next year...
I was surprised at just how many familiar faces I saw today! I recognise almost everyone! Even Kate came back, which was a GREAT surprise as we get along so well. Knowing people takes a certain strain off the whole experience. I don't think I'll find this year nearly as overwhelming as last. Not dealing with jet lag or culture shock might make a difference too ;)
After the concert we headed to the dance. Unfortunately it was held in a different location this year, so the majority of people disappeared somewhere in between. At around 11, we heard that there was a session going on in the hostel lounge, so I ran up to the dorm to grab my fiddle (and PJs), and joined them. So if this entry is a little disjointed, it's because it's nearly 1am and I've had an eventful day.
Sunday 5 August 2012
Saturday 4 August 2012
HOW do you pronounce that?!?
I finally made it to Jarlshof! It was a great way to get back into the Shetland 'groove'.
The Shetlands are a bit of an intriguing mix. Even though it's technically part of Scotland, it's not very long ago that it belonged to Norway. The Vikings and Norse have left a strong influence, which melds with the Pict and Celtic heritage.
Jarlshof is a small site, but the way they've excavated it is fascinating. They've peeled away different layers, so that you can see the evolution of the buildings and archeological influences through history. I know it may not SOUND that interesting, but it really is when it's used as a backdrop to paint the daily lives of the people.
I love how most sites in the UK have free audio guides, so that your eyes are free to roam as you walk along, and you can use all your senses to soak it all in. The smell of the sea air, the magnificent landscape, the rolling brogue of the commentator interspersed with wild and unusual music.
The Shetlands are a bit of an intriguing mix. Even though it's technically part of Scotland, it's not very long ago that it belonged to Norway. The Vikings and Norse have left a strong influence, which melds with the Pict and Celtic heritage.
Jarlshof is a small site, but the way they've excavated it is fascinating. They've peeled away different layers, so that you can see the evolution of the buildings and archeological influences through history. I know it may not SOUND that interesting, but it really is when it's used as a backdrop to paint the daily lives of the people.
I love how most sites in the UK have free audio guides, so that your eyes are free to roam as you walk along, and you can use all your senses to soak it all in. The smell of the sea air, the magnificent landscape, the rolling brogue of the commentator interspersed with wild and unusual music.
Free Fiddle Instruction
So the guy who used my distraction to get onto the airplane with his violin unimpeded turned out to be really nice. He's the musical director for the Melbourne Scottish Music Club. Very passionate about making fiddling accessible to all. He made sure that there was an overhead compartment free for my fiddle.
Because our flight had been delayed, we all missed the bus. For some reason, the inter-community buses on this remote island only run every so many hours. Luckily there were also people here for a Shetland Sheep conference trying to get to Lerwick, and we all shared a taxi.
Later that evening, Matthew (Ozzie) tracked me down and put me through my paces with the concert sets we'd been emailed in prep for Fiddle Frenzy. Thank you Sinan for convincing me to work on them when I would have stayed FAR away, or I would have been REALLY embarrassed! I just might be able to participate in the concert after all, as long as we start off nice and slow.
Because our flight had been delayed, we all missed the bus. For some reason, the inter-community buses on this remote island only run every so many hours. Luckily there were also people here for a Shetland Sheep conference trying to get to Lerwick, and we all shared a taxi.
Later that evening, Matthew (Ozzie) tracked me down and put me through my paces with the concert sets we'd been emailed in prep for Fiddle Frenzy. Thank you Sinan for convincing me to work on them when I would have stayed FAR away, or I would have been REALLY embarrassed! I just might be able to participate in the concert after all, as long as we start off nice and slow.
Thursday 19 July 2012
Where does the time go?
Tomorrow is the last day of school. As usual, I'm not quite ready for it. In one sense, I'm much more prepared for it, as reports went out last week, and I've had only my class to focus on bringing to a closure. However, perhaps because I've only had my kidlets for the last 6 months, I'm [not sick of them yet?]
My days are very exciting as a Year 1 teacher ;) We don't exactly have a lot of formal planning done for this week, so I've reverted to my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants approach, which usually results in my best teaching. Tuesday I decided to do a lesson on multiplication. Some are ready, some aren't. They can all count in two's though, and relate to Noah's ark, LOL. For those that are ready, they've got new excitement for maths, and have embraced the whole concept, transferring their understanding to multiplying by 10's, 5's, 3's, and in one case, 15's. Not bad for 6 year olds.
I've also discovered the joy of randomly choosing a book from the bookshelf, and being able to create whole lessons instantly, as I read the story to the class. For example, we read a story about Percy the Park Keeper who was trimming the hedge maze, and presto - they're all addicted to solving mazes. Focus on quiet table work the last week of school is NOT a bad thing.
Today was the Year 6 leaving do. Spent a couple hours after school playing volleyball, which was a BLAST! As usual, I tend to throw my whole self into the game, so I may be a little sore tomorrow, and covered in a few bruises. No children were hurt during the making of this film. However, my broken wrist arm hurts for the first time since it fully healed a few years ago. Not a good sign for my violin playing. I don't think I've done any permanent damage. It just doesn't twist very well because of the two different bone lengths, and that's what's hurting. Two weeks until Fiddle Frenzy.
Tomorrow will be the final assembly to say goodbye to the Year 1 teacher I've been mentored by over the last few months. It will be a sad day. She's one of those people that is so good at her job that you know it's a calling. That the kids come first, and she truly loves them. I have benefited so much by working with her, and wish that I had more than 6 months to glean off of her. She'll be back a day or so a week next year, so luckily it's not a final goodbye.
My days are very exciting as a Year 1 teacher ;) We don't exactly have a lot of formal planning done for this week, so I've reverted to my fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants approach, which usually results in my best teaching. Tuesday I decided to do a lesson on multiplication. Some are ready, some aren't. They can all count in two's though, and relate to Noah's ark, LOL. For those that are ready, they've got new excitement for maths, and have embraced the whole concept, transferring their understanding to multiplying by 10's, 5's, 3's, and in one case, 15's. Not bad for 6 year olds.
I've also discovered the joy of randomly choosing a book from the bookshelf, and being able to create whole lessons instantly, as I read the story to the class. For example, we read a story about Percy the Park Keeper who was trimming the hedge maze, and presto - they're all addicted to solving mazes. Focus on quiet table work the last week of school is NOT a bad thing.
Today was the Year 6 leaving do. Spent a couple hours after school playing volleyball, which was a BLAST! As usual, I tend to throw my whole self into the game, so I may be a little sore tomorrow, and covered in a few bruises. No children were hurt during the making of this film. However, my broken wrist arm hurts for the first time since it fully healed a few years ago. Not a good sign for my violin playing. I don't think I've done any permanent damage. It just doesn't twist very well because of the two different bone lengths, and that's what's hurting. Two weeks until Fiddle Frenzy.
Tomorrow will be the final assembly to say goodbye to the Year 1 teacher I've been mentored by over the last few months. It will be a sad day. She's one of those people that is so good at her job that you know it's a calling. That the kids come first, and she truly loves them. I have benefited so much by working with her, and wish that I had more than 6 months to glean off of her. She'll be back a day or so a week next year, so luckily it's not a final goodbye.
Monday 4 June 2012
A teacher and an archivist walk along a wall...
Day #1: a teacher and an archivist walk along a wall... It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke.
In reality, we haven't seem the wall yet. Today was all about travel. Up at 5am, and to the train station! Actually, I can't believe how much we've packed in already!
We switched trains in Newcastle, where 21 Scotsmen joined us. 2 of them sat with Zoe and I and kept us entertained until our stop in Corbridge. We almost couldn't get out of the station because Zoe had left her ticket on the train, but they were nice enough to hand it out the window, just as the train was pulling away from the platform.
After hiking into town (usually the train stations ARE downtown), we dropped off our bags at the B&B and headed for our first Roman site, Corbridge Roman Town. It was sort of like the central nerve system for the northern defence. Because it's a bank holiday, they had an archaeologist turned potter on site, talking about and demonstrating Roman pottery. The kids (and the teacher and the archivist) got a chance to try our hand at some mould work. Now we need to figure out how to carry two wet clay bowls with us for the rest of the trek.
I'm definitely in good company though, because Zoe proceeded to crawl through the tunnels under the grainery floors. I stuck to clambering over the walls. They would NEVER let us do anything like that in Canada! Yay for living and breathing history!
In reality, we haven't seem the wall yet. Today was all about travel. Up at 5am, and to the train station! Actually, I can't believe how much we've packed in already!
We switched trains in Newcastle, where 21 Scotsmen joined us. 2 of them sat with Zoe and I and kept us entertained until our stop in Corbridge. We almost couldn't get out of the station because Zoe had left her ticket on the train, but they were nice enough to hand it out the window, just as the train was pulling away from the platform.
After hiking into town (usually the train stations ARE downtown), we dropped off our bags at the B&B and headed for our first Roman site, Corbridge Roman Town. It was sort of like the central nerve system for the northern defence. Because it's a bank holiday, they had an archaeologist turned potter on site, talking about and demonstrating Roman pottery. The kids (and the teacher and the archivist) got a chance to try our hand at some mould work. Now we need to figure out how to carry two wet clay bowls with us for the rest of the trek.
I'm definitely in good company though, because Zoe proceeded to crawl through the tunnels under the grainery floors. I stuck to clambering over the walls. They would NEVER let us do anything like that in Canada! Yay for living and breathing history!
Wednesday 30 May 2012
5 days and counting until Hadrian's Wall
Our 4 day hike along Hadrian's Wall begins on Monday. Hadrian's wall was/is a 73 mile-long (stretching across the width of Great Britain), 10 foot thick, ten foot tall stone wall built two millennia ago by the Roman legions, who were attempting to conquer the UK. They made it as far as Scotland, where they built the wall to protect the Roman Empire from the "barbarians" who had slowed their Northern expansion. Being a little limited with time (halfterm break), we will hike the visible portion of the ruins in the more scenic interior.
I've been reading "A Walk Along the Wall" by Hunter Davies, in an attempt to better understand the trek, the history, and the people. I picked it up at a second hand book store in London a few months ago. It was written in 1974, but since the wall had been built around 100AD, I figured that it was hardly outdated. It's been a fascinating and humorous read, hearing his take on all the research HE'd read, and hearing his insights into it as he examined the Wall Country himself. (Remember that there are Roman town ruins, bath houses, forts, tourets, barracks, and museums displaying the tools and treasure hords along the way as well). However, every time I read about some exciting side attraction -such as the shop that sells hand-knit unwearoutable socks, or the medieval feast at a local castle- I find that it has long since disappeared into the mists of time.
I'm getting excited. I have many loose ends yet to tie with only an action packed few days in which to do it. This IS the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend.
I've been reading "A Walk Along the Wall" by Hunter Davies, in an attempt to better understand the trek, the history, and the people. I picked it up at a second hand book store in London a few months ago. It was written in 1974, but since the wall had been built around 100AD, I figured that it was hardly outdated. It's been a fascinating and humorous read, hearing his take on all the research HE'd read, and hearing his insights into it as he examined the Wall Country himself. (Remember that there are Roman town ruins, bath houses, forts, tourets, barracks, and museums displaying the tools and treasure hords along the way as well). However, every time I read about some exciting side attraction -such as the shop that sells hand-knit unwearoutable socks, or the medieval feast at a local castle- I find that it has long since disappeared into the mists of time.
I'm getting excited. I have many loose ends yet to tie with only an action packed few days in which to do it. This IS the Queen's Diamond Jubilee weekend.
Saturday 19 May 2012
How to cover an entire county in one day
I can't believe how much we've done in the last 24 hours. right after school on Friday, my aunt and I met at the car hire agency, and headed for Devon, to explore the land of our 500 year-ago ancestors.
I was incredibly surprised at how comfortable I felt sliding behind the wheel. Especially considering I have not driven in 8 months, and the last time I did, I white-knuckled it down the "wrong" side of the road.
First adventure... I surprised my aunt with Stonehenge. It sits majestically right beside the carriage way. The grey, drizzly sky was the perfect backdrop.
This morning, we got up early and saw our working farm B&B in full daylight. Gorgeous. We could smell bacon wafting upstairs, which made me think of mornings visiting my grandparents on Saltspring Island.
After breakfast we headed for Dartmoor to follow in Sherlock Holmes' footsteps. We rounded a bend up on the moor, parked the car, and hiked up to what turned out NOT to be Hound Tor, the inspiration for Sir Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Oh. Back in the car, and on again.
We had lunch at a roadside "Hound of Basket Meals" food truck, conveniently parked in by The real Hound Tor, then continued on towards Merrivale prehistoric village.
After an hour of weaving down single lane (but beautifully flowered) "highways", finding pullouts to avoid on-coming vehicles, the sat nav led us to a dead end. We decided to head back for Sidmouth and a nice cream tea with the famous Devonshire clotted cream.
On our way to Sidmouth, we stopped off at The Donkey Sanctuary. Aunt Cindy is a donkeyholic, and made it a requirement ;) Coincidently, my school sponsors one of the donkeys there, Little Vijay. He works with children with disabilities. It was MUCH larger than I expected, and really well laid out, with many interactive areas. A donkey sanctuary somewhere in Ontario apparently visited a few years ago, to help them plan their own facilities.
Sidmouth is your typical seaside holiday town, with many shops, and a great ocean-side boardwalk. It is framed by red sandstone cliffs, full of hidden fossils.
On our way back to the farm, we swung through Ottery St. Mary, where we know for certain that two of our ancestors lived. There was a wedding at the church, so we decided to investigate the gravestones tomorrow. We did however stop at a cute little pottery shop, where we bought a few very decently priced pieces (including a rock that cracks open to show an ammonite fossil, just for my little kidlets).
Back on the farm, we arrived just as the wife was headed down to the barn with a gigantic bottle of warm milk for the excess lambs. Obviously I decided to tag along! Greedy little things, but so soft and wooly! Can't wait to get home and update my fb photo!
After the lambs, the husband let out his collies and took me around the farm on his quad. From the top of the hill, you could see the whole farm on one side, and Ottery St. Mary on the other. It was fascinating seeing his dogs work the sheep. He's lived on the farm his whole life, his dad before him, and his grandfather before him.
I was incredibly surprised at how comfortable I felt sliding behind the wheel. Especially considering I have not driven in 8 months, and the last time I did, I white-knuckled it down the "wrong" side of the road.
First adventure... I surprised my aunt with Stonehenge. It sits majestically right beside the carriage way. The grey, drizzly sky was the perfect backdrop.
This morning, we got up early and saw our working farm B&B in full daylight. Gorgeous. We could smell bacon wafting upstairs, which made me think of mornings visiting my grandparents on Saltspring Island.
After breakfast we headed for Dartmoor to follow in Sherlock Holmes' footsteps. We rounded a bend up on the moor, parked the car, and hiked up to what turned out NOT to be Hound Tor, the inspiration for Sir Conan Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Oh. Back in the car, and on again.
We had lunch at a roadside "Hound of Basket Meals" food truck, conveniently parked in by The real Hound Tor, then continued on towards Merrivale prehistoric village.
After an hour of weaving down single lane (but beautifully flowered) "highways", finding pullouts to avoid on-coming vehicles, the sat nav led us to a dead end. We decided to head back for Sidmouth and a nice cream tea with the famous Devonshire clotted cream.
On our way to Sidmouth, we stopped off at The Donkey Sanctuary. Aunt Cindy is a donkeyholic, and made it a requirement ;) Coincidently, my school sponsors one of the donkeys there, Little Vijay. He works with children with disabilities. It was MUCH larger than I expected, and really well laid out, with many interactive areas. A donkey sanctuary somewhere in Ontario apparently visited a few years ago, to help them plan their own facilities.
Sidmouth is your typical seaside holiday town, with many shops, and a great ocean-side boardwalk. It is framed by red sandstone cliffs, full of hidden fossils.
On our way back to the farm, we swung through Ottery St. Mary, where we know for certain that two of our ancestors lived. There was a wedding at the church, so we decided to investigate the gravestones tomorrow. We did however stop at a cute little pottery shop, where we bought a few very decently priced pieces (including a rock that cracks open to show an ammonite fossil, just for my little kidlets).
Back on the farm, we arrived just as the wife was headed down to the barn with a gigantic bottle of warm milk for the excess lambs. Obviously I decided to tag along! Greedy little things, but so soft and wooly! Can't wait to get home and update my fb photo!
After the lambs, the husband let out his collies and took me around the farm on his quad. From the top of the hill, you could see the whole farm on one side, and Ottery St. Mary on the other. It was fascinating seeing his dogs work the sheep. He's lived on the farm his whole life, his dad before him, and his grandfather before him.
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