Thursday, July 1, 2004 (Georgian House, Myths & Legends)

Nana from Japan is now also a “family member” she changed families and was waiting to go to her new one. So it’s a little bit crowded at times until everybody is through with the bath in the morning. The two teachers from Spain would like to go to the Loch Ness at the weekend , but it means an 8 to 9 hour trip and it will be just for one day. Wendy advised them against this long trip and recommend Loch Lomond – a little bit closer and also a very nice place. I liked to discuss different things with Martha. This morning it is raining again, but it changed so fast that we didn't have to worry about it.

With Andrew we talked about friends, old and also different kinds of relationships. We had a text to read about homosexuality and marriage. In another article concerning female graduates in Singapore, who have problems finding a partner and about men marrying less educated women, so the government has launched a campaign to encourage the “right” couples to get together. Afterwards we saw a statistic on how couples meet in Sweden and guessed the statistics for our own country. Having done that, we discussed and gave our opinions about homosexuality and marriage.

The break was short and Kirsty continued. On a tape we heard some English dialects and had to assign them to Eire, London, North Ireland, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Wales. We didn't even have one right – a pity for us. This strange accent, like a farmer's, should be from London? We had more luck with the English dialects in different countries like the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – then we heard them every day … ;-)

There are some sentences which you can help find it out:
- Italy, Harry had a horrible holiday helping hungry hippos.
- German, Wendy went to the vet for weekly visits.
- Japan, around the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran.

With biscuits (truly the ingredient is oat) I span the lunch hour and wrote emails and met a lot of other students. For the visit to the Georgian House I looked for the India Building – housing the younger students from Hawthorn – there I should met Zoë. After searching for a couple of minutes, I asked somebody on the street for help and recieved a “bodyguard” just to the entrance. Where you can find this spontaneous help in another town?

A little bit later a small group around Zoë walked in the direction of the Georgian House through the Princes Street Gardens. It lies in the centre of Edinburgh below the castle walls and along the length of Princes Street, occupying the valley between the Old and New Town. The gardens now flourish where the Nor’ Loch, a defensive artificial loch, was created in 1460. Over time the loch became the Old Town’s rubbish dump, polluted by the butchers and tanners who worked on its banks. Originally designed as private gardens for the New Town residents; they were finally opened to the general public in 1876.



West Princes Street Garden, Edinburgh Castle

The Georgian House is part of Robert Adam’s stylish masterpiece of urban design, Charlotte Square. It dates from 1796, when the New Town was being developed and people began to move away from the cramped and squalid conditions of the Old Town. A number of period rooms contain silver, china, paintings and furniture, reflecting the social conditions of the era. It is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The walls are decorated with paintings by Allan Ramsay, Henry Reaburn and Sir Joshua Reynolds. The kitchen is also an interesting place and the volunteers are very helpful, they like to explain and know a lot about this time and the different objects.



New Town, Entrance

I had some time before going home for dinner, so I went back to the Old Town. In the Princes Street Gardens I met other students and we had a lot to tell each other. As a gift and for bringing back as a souvenir, I thought that sweets are always good and so went to the Fudge House of Edinburgh. But I had communication problems with the owner, she thought that I wanted a coffee and this was closed and I thought she meant that the whole store was closed … so we had a lot to laugh about.
I bought 8 pieces of different flavoured Fudge and it took a long time to decide. Behind me, two young men laughed about us women then there was a fight to find the right taste. Walnut yes, no, yes it’s delicious, but there is also this other flavour, and so on … but these two men just bought one each and also changed flavours four times, so we could have some revenge. ;-)



Ramsay Garden

At Ramsay Garden – one of the most desirable addresses in Edinburgh - where late 19th century apartments were built around the nucleus of the octagonal Ramsay Lodge, once home to poet Allan Ramsay.

All four students liked to eat dinner a little bit earlier during our home stay. My program for this evening was a talk on Myths & Legends. We listened to ancient tales of Scotland and famous Scottish characters from Alison. I went to the bus station and waited for the bus. It rained a little bit so I went under the roof and behind the rain protected side – a first bus past by and a big wave (about 1.50 m high) of water from a puddle came towards me. I got a shock … ;-) but I wasn’t wet. The next bus hit sprayed a woman on the sidewalk with the water and she was wet from top to bottom – that’s also Edinburgh.

From Alison we heard about stormy witches, selkies, kelpies, brownies, trolls, dwarfs, wizards, body snatchers, etc. but unfortunately in a small group. One story was certainly about the legendary, elusive and well the famous Scottish Nessie (“monster” in the Loch Ness). Alison asked us for some stories from our countries, upps … I told her about the myths from around our town and from a legend about a hill, which has its name from the appearance of an angel. Then we talked about why or why not we believe in these stories.

After the talk we went to the pub Deacon Brodies. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the Edinburgh schizophrenic based on the sinister figure of Deacon Brodie, was written by Robert Louis Stevenson on the south coast of England – but he was born just around the corner in Heriot Row in 1850. I think, that he stared out of his bedroom window across the Firth of Forth, he dreamed what all boys dream of – adventure, “goodies and baddies” and deeds of derring-do. And all this came wonderfully together in his first novel, Treasure Island.